Cleon Catsambis successful in application to obtain injunction to restrain a winding-up petition on the grounds of a ‘genuine and serious cross-claim’

Cleon Catsambis appeared for the successful applicant and obtained an injunction restraining the presentation of a winding-up petition relating to an undisputed debt on the basis of a genuine and serious multi-million pound cross-claim: LDX International Group LLP v Misra Ventures Limited[2018] EWHC 275 (Ch).

David Stone, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, noted that “counsel for the parties urged on me two very different approaches to applying the relevant principles”. In the event, the Judge accepted Cleon Catsambis’ submission that, in assessing the cross-claim, it was not the role of the Court to “get into the weeds” on the details – the Court need only satisfy itself that the cross-claim is genuine and serious and exceeds in value the amount claimed in the statutory demand. If that is the case, then provided there are no special circumstances, an injunction ought to issue.

The case is significant because it “provides some rare clarity for how the court should consider an application to restrain the presentation of winding-up petition, on which there is very little authority” (Practical Law – subscription needed) and because it “considered and applied the threshold test for having a ‘genuine and serious cross-claim’” (LexisNexis).